Standard season is over. The PTQ circuit is closed until Zendikar sealed springs forth in a month’s time, and very shortly the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block will no longer be part of the Standard environment. Yet, I would feel remiss if I did not provide one more article on Reveillark. For every FNM warrior looking to win some packs, every StarCityGames.com $5K player or Brian Baker Memorial Tournament participant looking to gain an edge, and every Magic Online grinder trying to pick up the last few QP they need for the season, this one’s for you.
Last week I talked about my PTQ experience with Reveillark and briefly went over some of the changes from previous incarnations, but they were not exactly the in-depth justifications I know all of you crave. After ruminating on the deck for over a week’s time, considering the changes I could make, and looking at what had been working for me and what didn’t, this is undoubtedly the decklist I would use if entering a Standard tournament in an unknown field:
Creatures (23)
Lands (26)
Spells (11)
Sideboard
That’s right: it’s exactly the same spell composition as last week. The only thing I changed was I turned one of the plains back into an island because I no longer feel concerned about being unable to hit Kitchen Finks consistently on turn 3 — I think it happens a most of the time with the 9/5 configuration, and it’s so much more important to have access to blue mana early. Now, with all of that said, the sideboard can be drastically tweaked depending on the metagame you expect (more on that later), but the maindeck I would mostly keep the same. I believe it is the best configuration for this archetype, and gives its player access to all of the tools they need to have to be able to win a match.
Now, I’ve ran down all of the core cards before — Mulldrifter, Sower, Reveillark, and so on — as well as the numbers on many of the support cards — Path to Exile, Kitchen Finks, Meddling Mage, and so on — so if you’re looking for details on why those are included, check out my Reveillark primers. However, there are a few new recruits in this list from previous lists which merit discussion, as well as a handful of missing components.
Ponder. Oh, Ponder. As you might notice, Ponder is missing from this list. I talked about Ponder’s absence last week, and claimed it no longer fit in this deck. The crux of my argument is twofold: firstly, Ponder did not consistently have an impact on the game, and secondly, finding Mulldrifter on turn 3 wasn’t as crucial with the addition of Vendilion Clique. (Or even Jace, for that matter.) After I talked about removing it last week, I received several e-mails addressing this issue, and the topic of Ponder has prompted a lot of strong discourse. As one of Ponders main proponents for months, I have finally come to see this: the card is too often a do-nothing. At its core, that is my problem with Ponder. Too often you spend a mana and receive a random card in exchange. It does nothing to impact the board. It does nothing to provide you with card advantage. It helps find you cards which can do both, but there is a card which already does that while having an effect on the game: Broken Ambitions.
After playing with Reveillark for so long, I found myself yearning for more countermagic. I wanted a counterspell that came online before turn four, and could deal with some of the most problematic cards for us. In our worst matchups, the cards we are often most concerned about are cheap; Broken Ambitions helps our bad matchups. Additionally, in our good matchups, Broken Ambitions helps to mitigate the ways they can beat you, by doing things like countering Putrid leeches and Spectral Processions.
In comparison to Ponder, Broken Ambitions helps you to dig for spells or lands, albeit not as well. But, what you lose of Ponder‘s advantages — having an effect when you’re behind and seeing more cards — Broken Ambitions gives you in controlling the game and lowering the curve of your cards that have an effect on the game. The problem is that so many of your cards are at the top end of your curve that you can win most long games, but you have to be able to get there. Even if you Ponder into Cryptic Command, Reveillark, Reveillark, that stack will not help you survive an early onslaught and you’ll be forced to shuffle it away anyway, whereas with Broken Ambitions you are actively combating their start as well as digging. While I would love to fit Ponder back in (sadly, four Ponders and 64 cards doesn’t quite make a lot of sense), I no longer feel it is worth the card slot, and I think Broken Ambitions accomplishes a similar task while doing something additional. Yes, there are situations where Ponder is the better card, but I feel that Broken Ambitions’ benefits eclipse the situations where Ponder is better.
The removal of Jace is another topic people seemed confused about. While I admit I feel the deck could occasionally use some more gas when games go long, I feel like your topdecks are usually better than their topdecks on average, and Vendilion Clique is just a much better card in the format. It gives you an instant speed play — something the deck was sorely in need of more of — and it increases your control over the game by shipping away their dangerous threats. Previously, you would end up in the dreaded “Cryptic Command Standoff,” where neither player felt safe tapping mana on their turn because it would just be Cryptic Commanded, then the other player could untap and resolve whatever they wanted. Against any deck that has instant speed threats, sitting on this plan is suicide. With Vendilion Clique alongside the full four Gargoyle Castles, you essentially force their hand into losing their Cryptic Command (one way or another), so that you can untap and cast whatever you want to.
Alright, so I have Broken Ambitions and Vendilion Clique. At this point, you might ask, why am I not just slotting in some Glen Elendra Archmages and Baneslayer Angels and calling it good? The answer actually lies in neither Baneslayer Angel or Reveillark, but rather, Sower of Temptation.
While I have sat here for weeks and talked about Reveillark and how it is superior to Baneslayer Angel, I think, in reality, a lot of it comes down to whether you want to play Sower of Temptation or Glen Elendra Archmage. Often you just need to trigger Archmage twice on worthwhile cards to cement an advantage (note the word “worthwhile,” as Archmage is a very hit-or-miss card depending on your matchup), making Reveillarks trigger less necessary, whereas with Sower, the more triggers, the better. Additionally, if you cast a Sower on turn four and they kill it, you can untap and safely play a Reveillark, whereas Archmage returns to play. (Not to mention, you’ll often cast it on turn 5, not 4.) For me, there is really no question. Sower of Temptation is excellent right now. In the mirror, Sower is much better, and playing them alongside Reveillarks makes you essentially pre-boarded for the mirror. Against any kind of beatdown deck, Sower of temptation excels. The only matchup where I feel Archmage is better is against five color and red decks, depending on their build, and I am comfortable enough with those matchups to say that Sower is definitely the way to go.
Of course, in addition to being better alongside Sower, I still feel like Reveillark is better in your bad matchups, or matchups where the game is going to go late. Instead of being turned off by a single removal spell, Reveillark makes anything short of a Sower of Temptation advantageous for you. Yes, I have had to play a “naked” Reveillark before, and yes, there have been a handful of situations where Baneslayer Angel would be better. Yet, I feel like even in those situations, Reveillark often accomplished the same goal. Reveillark makes the worst case scenario of Baneslayer Angel — in this case a removal spell — a perfectly fine situation for you. And with the format evolving more toward Baneslayer Angels, people are setting their decks up to be able to deal with them, making the “next level” strategy to go over the top of their removal be to play Reveillark.
As far as the sideboard goes, I believe that the configuration I have above is best in an unknown field, but, depending on the expected metagame, you can tweak it as necessary. I’ve put a sideboarding guide below (much more firm than last week’s), and then details about which cards I would add if that archetype was prevalent in my area.
Kithkin
-4 Meddling Mage
+3 Essence Scatter, +1 Hallowed Burial.
As I said last week, you can also swap in some Negates or Harm’s Ways for Kitchen Finks if you think their build warrants it. If they have Ajanis you may want the Negates, and if you are significantly worried about their fast low-curve draw when they’re on the play, you want Harm’s Way to deal with Wizened Cenns and Knight of Meadowgrains.
If Kithkin was prevalent in my area, I would add more Hallowed Burials. It’s just the best card you can have against them. They have no good way to deal with it besides sandbagging threats, and you’ll often have another way to deal with whatever they have in their hand post-Burial.
Five Color Control
-4 Sower of Temptation
+4 Negate
As I have repeated many times before, this matchup is all about countering their early card draw. Obviously Negate is still solid on endgame cards like Cruel Ultimatum, but if you just bottleneck their draw effects early on, their deck absolutely stutters. They have to hit all of their land drops and chain draw twos into draw twos, and if you can stop the cycle then you can cut off their chance of winning.
If I wanted more cards against five color, I would probably sideboard some Glen Elendra Archmages or the fourth Vendilion Clique — but realistically, you don’t have any more cards to take out against them.
Baneslayer
-4 Kitchen Finks, -2 Meddling Mage
+3 Essence Scatter, +3 Negate
Since they take out their Archmages and bring in Jace, Negate becomes a lot more effective. It both keeps them off of Jace, allows your Sowers to be protected from path to Exile, and helps win the Cryptic Command war. With that said, since the sideboarding so often comes down to Sower Wars, I’ve also been experimenting with bringing Harm’s Way in instead of some of the Negates, since it deals with their Sower for one mana.
If I wanted more cards for Baneslayer I would definitely board in the fourth Essence Scatter, and I would also sideboard some Jaces. Last Breath is also a good option for the mirror. Realistically though, I think you already have plenty of good options for the mirror, since you have Negates and Harm’s Ways you aren’t even bringing in.
Merfolk
-4 Reveillark, -2 Mulldrifter, -1 Gargoyle Castle
+4 Harm’s Way, +3 Essence Scatter
As I said last week, the best plan I’ve found against merfolk is to cut your slow and susceptible cards and try and break up their synergy by countering up the curve and beating them in the U/W beatdown deck department with Harm’s Way. The matchup is not easy, but if you play tightly and they don’t have an insane draw, you can definitely win.
If you want to board in more cards against Merfolk, I would probably bring in another cheap removal spell like Last Breath, or more countermagic.
Jund
-1 Sower of Temptation, -2 Kitchen Finks (Switch it to -2 Sower and -1 Finks on the draw)
+3 Celestial Purge
This matchup is already great for you! If you want to bring in more cards, I would probably just bring in the Harm’s Ways in your sideboard — but really, there’s nothing else you want to take out… it hurts me enough to cut cards for Purge already!
Faeries
Play:
-4 Sower of Temptation, -2 Vendilion Clique, -2 Reveillark
+3 Celestial Purge, +3 Negate, +2 Essence Scatter
Draw:
-4 Sower of Temptation, -2 Vendilion Clique -2 Reveillark
+3 Celestial Purge +3 Essence Scatter, +2 Negate
Against faeries, all that matters is Mistbind Clique and Bitterblossom. As I have said week after week, contain those two cards and you are on your way to victory. If you want to board more cards for faeries, I would just board more answers to those two cards: probably a fourth Essence Scatter and/or a Broken Ambitions.
Red
-4 Meddling Mage -4 Sower of Temptation -2 Vendilion Clique
+4 Harm’s Way +3 Celestial Purge +4 Negate
If you want more cards against red, Burrenton Forge-tender is the absolute best card you can have. In fact, a reader named Alex mentioned he had significant amounts of success in Jund, Five Color, and Red dominated fields by moving Forge-Tenders maindeck over Meddling Mages! With that said, I think between Negate, Harm’s Way, and Celestial Purge, you have more than enough cards for the matchup.
Thanks for reading, and I’d be happy to field any questions posed. If you have a question or comment, feel free to post it in the forums or e-mail me at gavintriesagain at gmail dot com.
Before I go, I’d like to plug a tournament happening this weekend. I don’t normally plug events, but this is a rare exception, so I hope you’ll listen. A Seattle judge named Brian Baker passed away recently. He was a prominent judge in the community who could always be seen helping players and selflessly judging pre-releases, PTQ’s, and more. This weekend, we are holding a tournament in Seattle in dedication to Brian, not unlike the absolutely amazing event held for the late Richie Proffit last year. I know it’s getting late to buy a plane ticket, but if I lived outside of Seattle, I know I would be flying out to this event. The list of donated prizes are incredible, and all of the money raised from the event goes to support The Northwest Epilepsy Foundation. Even though many of you didn’t know Brian, I’m sure you have someone local who is always there judging tournaments, helping people out, sharing a laugh, and providing advice. The kind of person every Magic judge should be: a supporter of the game. That’s who Brian was. That’s the kind of hole the Seattle Magic community and Brian’s family now have. That’s why we want to make this a spectacular memory of Brian’s life — and why you should be there.
If you are interested in making a donation to the tournament, please send an email to dwayst01 at noa dot Nintendo dot com. Pete Hoefling of Star City Games has kindly donated a Black Lotus to the prize pool, and any donation you can make to help support this fantastic cause is greatly appreciated. In any case, I hope to see you there! It’s going to be a great time!
Gavin Verhey
Team Unknown Stars
Rabon on Magic Online, Lesurgo everywhere else